Chancellor Merz will visit the White House and show Trump diagrams to prove that Germany has reduced illegal immigration, I doubt this will persuade DJT.
Merz will not be raising concerns about the USA/Israel action in Iran.
previous blog: German middle finger
Cambodia is relying on France , who ruled Cambodia as a protectorate from 1863 until 1953, to roll out its maps from 1907 of the Thailand/Cambodia border in hopes of easing the tension.
They were drawn using on the "watershed" principle that separates the basins of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap rivers.
Feb 19, 2026
🤔Houthi leadership's loyalty to Iran makes it likely that it will go after USA military assets in the region. So, northern Yemen will get hit by USA strikes.
Feb 23, 2026
A four-day “confirmation of charges” ICC hearing will determine whether Rodrigo Duterte, ex President of PI, will face a formal trial on crimes against humanity. He has opted to not attend the hearing
earlier blog: https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2024/02/japantaiwanasia-in-2024.html
I miss that Louisville passed an exemption for cigar bars in 2025. It was tired of losing business to places in Indiana. A bill in the KY legislature to legalize them faces a rocky road. If passed, it will preempt local prohibitions on cigar bars.
The rule in Louisville that passed in March 2025 requires establishments to not sell to those under 21, have a valid liquor license, and 15% of their annual gross income comes from the on-site sale of tobacco products.
earlier blog Local 2023
William Kunstler came to mind when I heard about Shakur's death in Cuba. I started wondering about what happened to the 3 BLA who freed Assata Shakur from a New Jersey prison on Nov 2, 1979.
Mutulu Shakur was convicted in 1988 of various crimes, including assisting in the prison escape.
Odinga was caught in 1981 and was jailed until 2014
Ronald Boyd Hill held on charges related to the escape.
Tyrone Rison testified about how Shakur was moved to a safe house following her escape.
These BLA members don't wear halos.
Oct 3, 2025
William Kunstler also defended H Rap Brown, who loved to incite folks with phrase,"Burn baby burn".
Later Kunstler defended Mafia boss John Gotti , and, in his last case, suspected Pakistani terrorists linked to the bombing of the NYCWorld Trade Center in 1993
Nov 2, 2025
Black Liberation Army: George Wright, who was convicted of murder in NJ in 1962, died a free man in 2015 in Portugal,which had refused to extradite him due his to marrying into Portugese citizenship and the statute of limitations' expiration.
After his 1970 escape from prison he wasn't nabbed until 2011.
Jan 26, 2026
Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is working in Minnesota and chanting the Assata Shakur phrase, it is our duty to fight for our freedom, it is our duty to win.
Sarah Tilghman Hughes, a federal judge in TX appointed by JFK, was raised on Myrtle Avenue in west Baltimore City. She administered the oath of office to LBJ on AF1 on 11/22/63.
She graduated from Western High School(Baltimore City) in 1913.
Jan 8, 2026
After many years I've decided to re-acquaint myself with High German. Those umlauts.
I was proficient in In German grammar, not pronunciation.
Now getting acquainted with the German Orthography Reform of 1996.
Feb 17, 2025
The B&O rail connections to Baltimore City created a medical hub during the Civil War. Casualties from the Battles of Antietam and Gettysburg were treated in churches, warehouses, and public parks.
Prior blog: Rappin Brown
Venezuela update:
Hugo Carvajal, ex- Venezuelan spymaster, pled guilty to four USA criminal counts including narcot-terrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine.
UN official Volker Turk was declared persona non-grata by the Venezuelan National Assembly after condemning arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances.
July 11, 2025
German-Brazilian nuclear agreement turned 50 on June 27. The original goals were for Siemens to construct eight nuclear power plants, a uranium enrichment plant, and a nuclear reprocessing plant in Brazil .
The signatories in 1975 were the the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt on the German side, and the Brazilian military dictatorship led by President Ernesto Geisel.
July 26, 2025
Brazil SC Justice Moraes barred Bolsonaro from appearing in videos and audios shared or published by third parties. Not sure how Bolsonaro does that.
Aug 1, 2025
Bayardo Arce , one of Daniel Ortega's comrades from the 1979 Sandinista revolution that toppled Somoza, was arrested for not rendering accounts. Is an ailing Ortega still making the decisions?
Arce has served as an economic adviser to Ortega.
Aug 17, 2025
Strong possibility that Bolivia, which has the largest lithium reserves on the planet, votes out the socialists today. One less buddy for Maduro of Venezuela. Medina and Quiroga, right leaning candidates, are in a dead heat.
Aug 21, 2025
Three USA Aegis-class guided missile destroyers are expected to arrive near the Venezuela coast by Sunday the 24th.
Aug 29, 2025
Milei comments on “Kirchnerism”: “The empty-headed nutters throwing rocks resorted to violence again,”
Oct 9, 2025
USA Senate unable to restrict Trump's war powers. Lula of Brazil condemns USA attacks on drug boats near Venezuela while asking Trump for tariff relief.
Nov 14, 2025
Libertarian Johannes Kaiser or conservative Kast in Chile. Presidential race worth watching
Nov 30, 2025
Is it splitting hairs? Government officials in Venezuela are heavily involved in drug trafficking and corruption, but it's more like a gangster state than a cartel.🤔
Gangsters states do not function as a single, hierarchical organization with a command structure like many cartels.
Dec 15, 2025
Kast's “Implacable Plan” may have to bend some when dealing with National Congress in Chile. It appears Venezuela may be getting some folks back from Chile.
Jan 3, 2026
wow, Maduro captured and headed to USA federal court ,probably in the Southern district of NY to face a charge from 2020.
Jan 30, 2026
Panama's Supreme Court annulled the 2021 concession held by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, to operate ports on either side of the canal. An audit conducted by Panama's comptroller led to concerns over the 25-year extension.
Feb 5, 2026
Pres Mulino stands behind Pamaa SC ruling against China, who's making threats to retaliate. Maersk is temporarily managing the port terminals
previous blog
https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2022/05/latin-america-some-things-dont-change.html
“When the earth is put on my coffin we will still be in the United Kingdom” – Peter Robinson, a former leader of the DUP in Northern Ireland.
I concur and don't see the momentum for a United Ireland
July 15, 2025
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald Rof I : "Northern Ireland ‘makes no economic sense’ and called for a border poll within the next five years. Oh, this should cheer up the Unionists. 😉
Aug 16, 2025
La Datcha, a superyacht owned by Siberian-born Oleg Tinkov, arrived in Belfast coming from Port Ellen in Scotland.
He founded Tinkoff Bank in 2006 .
Yacht has its own helipad.
Sept 21, 2025
Sinn Féin will back Catherine Connolly, a left -eaning Independent, to be the next president of R of I. She is for a united Ireland . McGregor and Geldof aren't running.
Heather Humphreys, center-right Fine Gael from County Monaghan, near the border with NI, is a member of a Protestant church. Her grandfather signed a petition against Irish self-government in 1912, when all of Ireland was still a part of the UK.
Jim Gavin of the Fianna Fáil, which is the largest party in the Irish Parliament, is running.
Oct 15, 2025
A woman In Londonderry , NI ,whose home was badly damaged during flooding in 2017 described a public meeting hosted by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) as a "tick-box exercise". Just bureaucrats checking boxes
Nov 5, 2025
The Harland and Wolff site in the Port of Belfast, NI was searched for unexploded WW2 bombs in preparation for a defense contract ,and no bombs were found.
Cleary Contracting, a local company, completed the job.
Dec 17, 2025
Grace period for veterinary medicines will end on the final day of 2025 for NI as Windsor Framework moves it closer to the EU mandates
Dec 23, 2025
Riders of Scramblers, versatile, vintage-style motorcycles built more for light-road use, are not listening to Belfast, NI regulations. Vehicle should not be driven on pavements, roads, public property, or parks.
Jan 26, 2026
This headline made me curious: "Yellow rain warnings for parts" of R of I. it's the least severe of three warnings, not yellow rain
Feb 1, 2026
NI:First Minister Michelle O’Neill pushes Sinn Fein’s call for a border poll by 2030 while Emma Little-Pengelly (DUP), the Deputy FM, feels there's no momentum for an Irish unity poll.
Previous blog
Nixon expected "square entertainment " from the Ray Coniff singers at a White House gala celebrating the 50th anniversary of Reader's Digest magazine on 1/28/72. However, Carole Feraci, a singer, decided she wanted to give the Prez a lecture on Nam.
Ray Coniff apologized after the concert, and I'm guessing he didn't suspect this from his group.
Hey Carole, you knew the gig was square but you made it all about you.
Putin continues his tradition of sending Kim Jon Un, the NK dictator, various gifts. This week it's lions and bears, and earlier this year it was 24 pure-bred horses, as thanks for artillery shells provided by North Korea.
And Kim loves car, so Putin sent him an Aurus limousine in February.
Dec 11, 2024
Russian FM Sergey Lavrov made his first visit to the EU since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Lavrov's assets can be frozen, but he is free to travel across the bloc.
His appeared at a meeting of the OSCE in Malta yesterday.
Dec 14, 2024
Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former Manchester City soccer player, is the new president of Georgia. Maybe he's too tight with Russia, but hearing Starmer's UK bunch call anybody undemocratic is funny.
Dec 28, 2024
The Azerbaijani plane that may have come under fire from Russian air defense systems as it tried to land in Chechnya was diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where it crashed.
The head of Russia's civil aviation agency said the situation in Chechnya was "very complicated" because of Ukrainian drone strikes on the region.
Azerbaijan has not accused Russia. 38 people died. Spin cycle in high gear.
Jan 15, 2025
Hanoi-Vietnam and Moscow, who have had a diplomatic relationship since 1950, signed an agreement to boost co-operation on nuclear energy.
Hanoi's goal is to become energy-sufficient.
May 3, 2025
Construction started on a road bridge to Russia, which will span the Tumen river in northeast North Korea. It will be near a Soviet era rail bridge named the Friendship Bridge,which is the only other land connection between Russia and North Korea.
July 5, 2025
Russia is the first state to recognize Afghanistan's Taliban government. Russia's FM sees the potential for cooperation in energy, transportation, agriculture, and infrastructure. WOW
Oct 18, 2025
Putin is expected to meet Trump in Hungary despite ICC arrest warrant. Perhaps, the ICC should focus on its own: Prosecutor Karim Khan stepped down pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
Nov 6, 2025
Iran(AEOI) plans to build eight new nuclear power plants with Russian support as part of a major expansion of its clean energy sector..
President Pezeshkian emphasized that the program remains entirely peaceful and has no intention of developing nuclear weapons. 🤔
Gorby style earlier blog
John Connolly, who was jailed for 14 years by a Belfast(NI) court in 2000 after being caught with a Real IRA mortar bomb on his way to blow up a police station on Armistice Day, was welcomed as guest by the Russian embassy in Dublin(R of I).
Oct 5, 2024
Sinn Féin did not revoke former press officer Michael McMonagle's security pass at Stormont, nor warn British Heart Foundation in a job reference request that MM was facing child sex charges. Then blamed that omission on possibly harming a pending police investigation, which the cops call bullsh^t.
How was McDonald unaware of McMonagle's crimes, then spend more time apologizing to BHF , who hired him, then to the citizens of NI.
Nov 9, 2024
Causeway Safari Park in NI on the north coast was a must-see for families during the Troubles. And had( Pete the chimp , a chain smoker
Nov 11, 2024
Paper remains important: Attics is Belfast, NI are a source for history written in Gaelic.
The first urban Gaeltacht was set up on Shaw's Road in west Belfast in 1969.
Nov 14 2024
Reeves still coming for UK farmers ' money. Assets above £1m, will be taxed at 20% starting April 2026 - half the general rate of inheritance tax.
Nov 22, 2024
RofI: Independents are gaining in popularity, up to 20% in an Irish Times poll, and many of them are running on anti-immigration tickets.
Dec 3, 2024
RofI: Labor lost 11 of 12 seats in the Dail. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael combine for 86. Will they turn to right- leaning Independent Ireland(4 seats ) to reach 88 and become the majority?
Dec 16, 2024
Israel will close its embassy in the Republic of Ireland. Decision makers in Dublin have been pro-Palestine on nearly everything.
Jan 19, 2025
The Legacy Act blocks Gerry Adams and others , interned without a trial in the early 1970s, from claiming compensation for unlawful detention. If Starmer's repeal occurs, Adams could pursue compensation. Keir claims he can prevent that which is as funny as Adams on-going denial of ever being an IRA member.
Feb 8, 2025
42 years ago: An armed gang of kidnappers broke into a farm in County Kildare(RoI) and seized Shergar, a champion race horse. No organization admitted to the kidnapping and no trace of the horse has been found.
Horse was owned by Aga Khan
March 2, 2025
Ian McLaughlin, a Belfast city councillor, claims his name should have been removed from a deed for a Heather Street loyalist club(UDA) in Shankill that was shut down by the courts.
A police anti-terror investigation investigated UDA drug dealing at the club.
March 16, 2025
Jason Rhodes(26) did not apply for bail at Belfast(NI) Magistrates’ Court when charged with attempting to murder two women at a bungalow on Stream Street . And is also accused of having a zombie knife, possession of cocaine and pot, and assaulting a police constable.
'Zombie-style' is the slang name given to knives which are over eight inches in length and often have a serrated edge, spikes, or more than 2 sharp points.
April 7, 2025
Cheryl Brownlee, deputy chairwoman of Stormont’s (PAC), claims more than £3 billion is overspent on major capital projects. “little oversight” and “little accountability”. DOGE-time.
PAC= Public Accounts Committee
May 31, 2025
Gerry Adams won rd1 of putting “manners” on the BBC, but it ain't over. Sad to think of Gerry giving "manners"lessons.
June 18, 2025
Rof I Government making ‘an absolute "hames" of rental reforms . I needed a slang converter to learn "hames" means to make a mess of something.
Accusations fly about a housing shortage, rising rents, decreasing rents, etc
Jan 11, 2026
Keir Starmer appears to be siding with Rof I rather NI, in dealing with protections for veterans being discussed in the NI Legacy bill.
Rof I has opinions but I'm unsure why they need to be considered since its not part of the UK.
Previous blog Two Irelands-more coming
Chancellor Merz will visit the White House and show Trump diagrams to prove that Germany has reduced illegal immigration, I doubt this will...
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